MORRO CASTLE. 
7i 
Lordship’s hands. Your humble servant, Albemarle. Havana, 19th 
October, 1762.” 
To this new demand the Bishop demurred even more obstinately than 
before; and the money was forthcoming only after Lord Albemarle had 
issued a proclamation declaring that the conduct of the Bishop was 
seditious, and threatening to expel him from Cuba and send him to 
Florida on a British warship. ' * 
Lord Albemarle further exacted that one of the churches should be 
designated for the use of the troops for worship; and when the Bishop 
refused to name one, he selected that of San Francisco. The edifice was 
in consequence considered desecrated, and was devoted to secular purposes. 
It is now a customs warehouse. 
The British standard waved over the Morro for a year, and then the 
fortress was restored to Spain. The joy of the Havanese was extreme 
when they saw the national banner floating once more from the ram¬ 
parts and knew that their city was no longer sullied by the presence of 
the heretics. They attributed their deliverance to the intercession of 
Our Lady of the Rosary, for they saw something miraculous in the 
abandonment of a prize so rich and important. Annually, for a half- 
century afterward, on the 6th of July, they celebrated in the church of 
Santo Domingo the anniversary of their deliverance. A French traveler, 
present at this celebration in 1819, has recorded his surprise at the 
mildness of the fulminations from the pulpit against the British. 
SAN FRANCISCO—CUSTOMS WAREHOUSE. 
